Lead Me Home
by JustALonelySoul
Summary: Jessica is a woman surviving in the apocalypse with her husband and newborn daughter. What happens when she meets an 11 year old girl who joins their group? [Starts before they meet Clementine]
1. Prologue

A piercing scream echoed through Howe's Hardware Store. A woman, in her early twenties with light brown hair and piercing blue eyes, was sat in the middle of the floor with her legs spread apart and her body covered in sweat. Her hair was stuck to her forehead as she kept screaming.

"Baby, you gotta keep going. You're almost there." A man with chocolate brown hair and deep brown eyes encouraged her, tightly clutching her hand.

"I can't." The woman cried as she tried to catch her breath.

"You can't stop now. It's only one more push." The man said.

"You've got to do it now, Jess." A Hispanic man, positioned at her feet, told her calmly.

The woman, named Jess, pushed with all her might and let out another scream. A cry came from the room as a small baby was wrapped in a child's coat. A laugh came from the Hispanic man.

"What do you want to call her?" The Hispanic man asked Jess as he handed her the baby.

"I think I'll call her Mia." Jess smiled as she looked down at her daughter, who had stopped crying as she was placed in her mother's arms.

"That's a lovely name." Both men said at the same time.

"Thank you." Jess nodded her head.

"I'm off to tell the others about the good news." The Hispanic man rose from the floor and headed for the exit.

"Bye, Carlos." Jess called to the man.

"She looks just like you." Her husband said quietly.

"I know." Jess smiled. "Maybe she'll get your brains, Luke."

"Hopefully." Luke smiled and kissed Jess on the side of her head. "You did so well."

"I hope so. I'm tired as hell." Jess sighed.

"I would think so. You just pushed out a baby." Luke chuckled.

"Well, I'd better get some rest." Jess told him. "Got a baby to take care of now."

"I'll sleep with you." Luke said.

Jess turned on her side, lying Mia down next to her. The infant was already sleeping soundly. Luke wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her exposed shoulder.

"I love you." Jess said quietly.

"I love you too." Luke replied. "Always."

After that last word, they both drifted to sleep.

* * *

**Whoops, new story! Okay, this is a Luke/OC fanfiction and the first couple chapters are set when they were in Carver's group and the escape then the next couple chapters will be skipping to a couple months later, when Clementine appears. There will also be no Luke/Jane romance whatsoever. I doubt Luke would cheat on his wife with someone he just met. Sorry to disappoint y'all. So, the next chapter should be out super soon and sorry this is so short, but it's just the prologue to help you understand who Jess is and when the baby was born. Thank you for reading and please review! I'd love to know your opinions.**


	2. Escape

"How you holding up?" Rebecca asked me as I walked in with Mia in my arms.

"I'm good. Just a little tired. Carlos stopped the bleeding and I should make a full recovery." I told her, taking a seat.

"I hope Bill gives you some slack off work. He can't expect you to work with a baby in your arms." Rebecca said.

"He's making you work when you're 8 months pregnant, Becca." I said.

"It's only menial work. Nothing too challenging." Rebecca explained.

"Are you ever going to tell Alvin?" I asked.

"I don't know." Rebecca said. "I'm conflicted."

"Bill's an evil man. I'm sure Alvin will understand that you didn't give consent to doing anything with that disgusting piece of shit." I said.

"What are you girls talking about?" Carlos said as he sat down.

"Just about my recovery." I smiled. "I can't thank you enough for helping me."

"It's no problem, Jess. I don't think your baby or Luke want to live without you in this godforsaken world." Carlos told me.

"Carlos, have you told Jess?" Nick said as he entered the room.

"Told me what?" I asked.

"Well..." Carlos started. "Everyone's devised a plan to get out of here."

"But Carver will lynch us if we even try and set foot out of this prison." I said.

"We have a good plan. We just need to distract the guards and make a run for it." Nick explained.

"When is this supposed to go down?" I questioned.

"When you're healthy enough." Carlos said.

"I already feel great." I said. "How about tomorrow night?"

"Are you sure, Jess?" Rebecca said.

"I'm positive." I nodded. "Let's get out of this place."

* * *

It was time to run for our lives. I wasn't feeling sick at all and I was convinced I was fully prepared. Everything had been set up and I had shoved my gun into my waistband, successfully hiding it from watchful eyes.

"Are you ready, babe?" Luke asked me as he held onto my free hand.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I smiled.

Then the plan was thrown into the action. As soon as we started running, the gunshots went off. Every one of us just managed to avoid them and we made it into the woods, being thankful for the lack of walkers.

"Now what?" Sarah asked, trembling.

"We run." I said.

And that's just what we did.

* * *

**This is rushed but I wanted to release this because I left it way overdue. Also, the season finale was released, and I just wanna tell you this, I cried. Like really cried. Not as much as I did at the S1 finale but the S2 finale just wrecked me. I'm in emotional distress over it. But I'm sure I'll repair myself. Just, proceed with caution at the episode, because it is sad. So sad. Also, shout out to kawaiiclem for being my first (and only so far) reviewer on this story! I'll try and get the next chapter up very soon!**


	3. New Addition

"Who's this?" I asked as I pushed through the group to see a small girl on the floor.

"She said her name's Clementine and that she was bitten by a dog." Pete explained.

"What, and you just believed her?" Rebecca spat. "You should have put her out of her misery right there. Dog bite, my ass."

Clementine mumbled something and Nick managed to fire a bullet, just narrowly missing her leg.

"Keep your finger off the trigger, boy!" Pete warned, taking the gun from Nick.

"What the fuck?" Luke ran out of the cabin and to the circle.

"You idiot!" I snapped at Nick.

"Every lurker for five miles probably heard that." Rebecca said.

"You're the one telling me to fucking shoot her." Nick said.

"Nick, watch your language!" I exclaimed. "The kid's gotta be only eleven or something."

"Everybody, just calm down for a second." Alvin reasoned.

"Clementine, are you okay?" Luke asked the little girl.

"I just need a doctor." Clementine said shakily. "And then I'll go. I don't want my arm to get infected."

"None of us wanna get infected." Nick scowled at her. "That's the point."

"Nick, will you cut the kid some slack?" I snapped. "She's obviously in some sort of shock."

"We got a doctor right here." Luke smiled at Clementine. "He'll have a look." Luke turned on the rest of the group. "What the hell is wrong with you people? She's just scared."

"We're all scared, Luke." Rebecca said. "Don't act like we're the ones being irrational because we don't buy this bullshit story."

"No way she survived out here on her own." Nick said like the idea was impossible.

"Maybe she was only out here for a couple hours before Luke and Pete found her. Did you think about that?" I said.

"Shut up, Jess." Nick said.

"I will shove that hat so far up your ass-" I started.

"Jess, enough." Luke scolded.

"Let me take a look." Carlos interrupted, walking over to the girl, crouching before her and rolling up her sleeve, showing the gaping wound on her forearm.

"Damn, that must've hurt." Alvin commented.

"Whatever it was, it got you good." Carlos said.

"This isn't how we do things, man." Nick said. "When you're bit, you get put down. End of story. I'm not going through this again."

"Nick, she's not a damn dog! She's a little kid who's scared out of her mind because some guy has only known her for a few minutes and he wants to blow her brains out. Will you just shut up and let Carlos take care of it?" I yelled.

"Jess, go inside and cool down." Luke said.

"No, I'm staying here." I scowled.

"I'm not arguing with you, Jess. You get inside now!" Luke snapped and I raised my eyebrows at him before storming into the cabin.

"What's wrong, Jess?" Sarah asked timidly.

"Nothing, Sarah." I smiled warmly at her and gently took Mia out of her arms. "Thanks for watching over her for me."

"It's no problem." Sarah smiled back. "I love babies."

"Yeah, so do I." I waved goodbye to Sarah before ascending the stairs and entering Luke and I's shared room.

* * *

After a long nap and being thankful for nobody disturbing me, I picked up Mia and descended the stairs and walked to the small dining room, seeing Luke and Clementine sat at the table. I sat next to Luke and smiled at the little girl.

"Hey, Clementine." I said.

"Hi." Clementine said cautiously.

"This is Jess." Luke introduced. "My wife and the mother of our daughter, Mia."

"You guys have a baby?" Clementine said, shocked.

"Yeah. She was born two months ago." I smiled. "Would you like to hold her?"

"Uh... I can't. My arm's still healing." Clementine declined.

"So Carlos patched you up." I nodded.

"After locking me in the shed." Clementine snapped.

"What?" I turned to Luke with an incredulous look on my face. "You guys locked her in the shed?!"

"We had to!" Luke exclaimed. "We thought she was bitten. We didn't want to make the same mistake with Nick's mom."

"It's okay." I sighed, using my free hand to grab Luke's. "You did what you thought was best."

"How long have you guys been married?" Clementine interrupted.

"Uh... five years?" I guessed. "We were high school sweethearts, got engaged in college, and married after we both turned twenty-one. Happiest moment of my life."

"And I hope the second happiest moment was meeting our daughter." Luke smiled at me.

"Of course." I grinned down at a sleeping Mia. "Why don't you hold her, Luke? I think she wants her dad."

"Sure." I handed him Mia and he took her gently, smiling down at her.

"You two are great parents." Clementine spoke up.

"Thank you." I nodded at her. "I always wanted to be a mom and I planned to have my first child by the time I turned twenty-five but then shit hit the fan and I managed to become pregnant during the worst time in the world. But I don't regret it, not one little bit."

"So, since you're pretty much on your own, what's your plan." Luke asked.

"I'm thinking about moving on." Clementine said.

"Well, you're welcome to stay here, if you want." Luke told her. "Let yourself heal up, take some time to sort things out."

"Yeah, there's extra beds all around." I said.

"Do you think everyone else will be okay with it?" Clementine asked nervously.

"They'll just have to deal with it." Luke smiled at Clementine.

"So... what happened to your parents?" I said. "If you don't mind me asking."

"They died." Clementine said solemnly.

"That's tough." Luke said quietly. "I lost my folks too."

"I don't know where mine are." I shrugged. "Haven't seen them since I married Luke."

"My parents went on vacation and left me with a babysitter and they never came back." Clementine explained. "I went to Savannah to find them but they were already dead."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said.

"This man found me and took care of me. We met up with other survivors and we all tried to make it, but it didn't work." Clementine continued. "His name was Lee. He taught me how to survive. He taught me how to shoot a gun."

"What happened to him?" Luke asked.

"I ran away. I was stupid. There was a man who said he knew my parents and I thought I knew what I was doing. Lee died because I ran away." Clementine finished.

"Maybe he would have died anyways." Luke offered.

"It was my fault." Clementine said. "Sometimes people die because of me."

"I hate to interrupt but I'm out there standing watch and I can't help but notice that this place is lit up like a goddamn beacon in the middle of the woods." Pete interrupted.

"Yeah, it's time to turn in anyways." Luke smiled.

"Get your winks while you can 'cause we're going fishing at first light." Pete said.

"I'll take Mia up to our room." Luke said, getting up from the table. "Why don't you show Clementine to a room, babe?"

"Okay, hon." I smiled at him as he left the room.

"Oh, you're still here." Rebecca said as she entered the room, walking to the sink and cleaning up the dishes. "I wouldn't get comfortable if I were you."

"Luke and Jess invited me to stay." Clementine said deeply.

"Good for them." Rebecca quipped. "But that's not how things work around here. We make decisions as a group. And you're wearing out your welcome."

"Like the group decision to lock Clementine in the shed?" I spoke up. "Where was my vote in that? Sarah's? That doesn't sound like a group vote if you exclude members from the decision."

"Jess, you were asleep. And we all know Sarah's vote is decided by Carlos." Rebecca glared at me.

"So, Sarah's not really a part of the group then if she doesn't have any voting rights." I nodded.

"You got what you came here for. Now go." Rebecca snapped at Clementine before leaving the room.

"Come on, Clementine. I'll show you to a spare room." I smiled at her before leading her to an empty room that had one bed. "This should be perfect."

"Thanks for your help, Jess." Clementine said quietly. "I'm grateful."

"It's no problem." I nodded. "You're a sweet kid, I can tell. Have a good night." I waved to her before walking to the room I shared with Luke.

"Hey, babe." Luke grinned at me as I opened the door. Mia was in her makeshift crib and Luke was sitting up on the bed.

"Hi, honey." I grinned back and walked over to the bed, Luke pulling me onto it. I giggled quietly and he kissed me sweetly.

"I love you." Luke said in a low voice.

"I love you too." I kissed him again. "Always."

* * *

**And that is the first episode done with! It's a lot lengthier than the others, thank the Lord. I really hope you guys liked the little detail on Luke and Jess' relationship. Also shout out to miafarrowinraybans, Tess Carver and Guest to reviewing! And to Tess' question as to Episode 5 about Luke, you may be shocked about it! It's going to be a definite emotional ride, I can tell you that. Thank you to those three for the compliments and I'll try to have the next chapter up soon! And since the next episodes should feature more of the group, they will be split up into parts so the story will be longer as I want to drag it out a little bit. The last chapter is going to be very sad! Thanks for reading, please review as it would make my day! See you guys for the next chapter!**


	4. He's Back

I woke up to a loud knocking at the door. I knew that everyone, except Sarah, had gone out to find Pete, Nick and Clementine. I quickly ran out of the room to see Sarah and Clementine at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's going on?" I asked them.

"Carver's at the door." Sarah said nervously.

"What?" I exclaimed. "How did he find us?"

"I don't know." Sarah cried.

I rushed down the stairs and over to Sarah, pulling her into a hug. She sobbed into my chest and clutched onto me, hoping that I wouldn't let go.

"It's okay, Sarah. He won't get to you." I stroked her hair, trying to calm her down.

"I'll go get rid of him at the door. You two find somewhere to hide." Clementine said quietly and I nodded.

I managed to maneuver Sarah and I over to the sofa in the middle of the room. I quickly pulled Sarah down with me as Carver barged into the cabin and started talking to Clementine.

"Would you please leave?" Clementine said harshly. Sarah's cries were threatening to become louder and I quickly put my hand over her mouth, shaking my head at her to keep quiet.

"This is a nice place." Carver ignored Clementine's request. "Is there anyone else around? You don't usually see cabins this big out here."

"I'm alone." Clementine declared.

"Really?" Carver asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I take care of myself." Clementine lied smoothly.

"Well, I'm impressed." Carver said. "Well, I'll cut to the chase; I'm out looking for my people. Nine of them, to be exact. They've been gone a long while... and I'm worried they might've gotten lost. Maybe you've seen 'em. An old man, two farm boys, Spanish guy and his daughter. Quiet girl, bit taller than you. A big black guy. And two pretty little pregnant ladies.

"I haven't seen them." Clementine said nervously.

"Well, that's a shame." Carver muttered. "You sure?"

"Pretty sure." Clementine said.

I heard Carver open the door to the kitchen and took my hand off of Sarah's mouth. She was looking at me helplessly.

"Okay, you go to your room and get under the bed. I'll grab Mia and come in there with you. Do not make any sound, okay?" I told her.

"Okay." Sarah said shakily.

"Go." I pushed her lightly and she tiptoed up the stairs. I followed in pursuit. I stealthily ran to Luke and I's room, picked up a sleeping Mia and ran back to Sarah's room. I couldn't see her so I bent down and crawled underneath the bed, next to her form.

"What's gonna happen if he finds us, Jess?" Sarah said quietly, holding back her tears.

"He's not going to find us." I reassured her.

I quickly silenced her as I heard footsteps coming closer to the door. Two pairs of shoes were visible from under the bed as they entered the room.

"I told you, nobody's here." Clementine snapped.

"Seems that way." Carver said. "Didn't mean to be rude. Couldn't just leave you here with a good conscience if someone was pokin' around, right?"

"Sure..." Clementine trailed off.

"Who's this?" Carver asked after he had picked something up off the floor. I couldn't see what he was holding but my best guess was that it was a picture of somebody.

"My sister." Clementine said with fake sympathy. "She's dead."

"Really?" Carver asked in disbelief. "Well, I'm very sorry to hear that."

"Thanks." Clementine said.

"You have no idea who these people are, do you?" Carver questioned.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Clementine deadpanned.

"Lemme ask you this." Carver drawled. "When you met 'em, how much did they trust you?"

"What's your point?" Clementine sounded annoyed.

"If people don't trust you, how can you trust them?" Carver said and then paused. "Well, I think I've troubled you long enough. I can let myself out."

When the door had slammed, I quickly shuffled out from under the bed. I had calmed my panicked breathing down and snuggled Mia closely to me. I didn't want that poisonous man back in our lives. Carver still thought I was pregnant. He's going to be in for a big surprise when he sees Mia.

"Where is he?" Sarah asked.

"He's gone." Clementine said.

"What if he comes back?" Sarah asked in a panic.

"Then we won't go down without a fight." I concluded.

* * *

Sarah, Clementine and I were sat on the sofa, waiting for the others to return

"We have to find the others." Clementine said.

"We can't go outside." Sarah pleaded.

Clementine opened the door to the kitchen and there stood everyone else.

"Luke." I cried in exasperation, running to him and crushing him into a hug. I had returned Mia to her bed a few minutes after Carver had left.

"Jess." Luke sighed into my shoulder, holding onto me tightly.

"A man was here." Sarah broke up the happy reunion.

"What?" Carlos demanded.

"What did she say?" Rebecca asked.

"Someone came to the cabin." Sarah said hurriedly. "Clementine talked to him."

"And you just opened the door for him?" Rebecca asked incredulously.

"He forced his way in." I snapped. "He was twice the size of her. She couldn't exactly push him out of the door by herself."

"Did he say his name?" Carlos said.

"It was Carver." I told them. "Carver found us."

"He talked about you, dad." Sarah said quietly. "You're not going to hurt anyone, are you?"

"Of course he won't, Sarah, all right?" Luke spoke up. "Your dad's the nicest man I know, which is why he's not going to do anything crazy or... not nice."

"You know these are bad people, sweetie." Carlos told Sarah. "They will do or say anything to hurt us."

"Did it seem like he was coming back?" Luke asked.

"He saw a picture of me." Sarah confessed.

"A picture?" Carlos exclaimed. "What were you doing taking pictures?"

"I took the picture." Clementine said bravely. "It's my fault."

"No. I asked her to. It's my fault." Sarah tried to take the blame off her best friend.

"He was scouting." Carlos said. "We got lucky. He wasn't expecting to find us. Clementine must have surprised him. If she hadn't been there..."

"Everyone pack up." Luke declared. "We're movin' out."

"We have to leave now, sweetie. Before he comes back with more bad guys." Carlos explained to Sarah. "But it's gonna be okay. Let's just go get your things."

"Where are we going?" Clementine asked.

"Anywhere but here." Carlos decided. "Into the mountains, maybe."

"Is that safe?" I asked Luke.

"Safest chance we have." Luke whispered.

"Clem, I don't know what he told you, but William Carver is a dangerous man." Carlos said gravely. "He is the leader of a camp not far from here, and he is very smart. We were... lucky to escape. Look, I'm sorry to involve you, but now that he's seen you, you'll be safer with us. We have to leave."

"Come on, babe." Luke said to me, grabbing my hand. "Let's pack our stuff, grab Mia, and then we're getting out of here."

"Okay." I let him lead me to our room.

* * *

"Tell me how it happened." Nick declared after we had found Pete's mangled corpse on the road.

"He saved my life." Clementine told him.

"Well, that was... that was Pete." Luke said quietly.

"I'm sorry." Clementine said sadly.

Nick hung his head low and trailed to the back of the group. I felt really sorry for him. Pete was the only family he had left and he had gone the same way as Nick's mom.

"I'm worried about him. Keep an eye on him for me, would you?" Luke asked Clementine. "You sure you still wanna come with us?"

"I don't have anywhere else to go." Clementine shrugged.

"Well then, welcome to the party." I said, smiling down at her.

"Yeah, thanks." Clementine said.

"We're, uh... we're smarter than we look." Luke stammered.

"Says the man who got me pregnant in the apocalypse." I quipped.

"Hey, it takes two to tango, Jess." Luke said jokingly.

"Yeah, sure." I laughed.

"I figure we got about four or five days to reach those mountains. Now, if they're trackin' us, we should be able to lose 'em up there." Luke said after scanning over a map.

"Five days?" Rebecca asked.

"It's gonna be okay, Bec." Alvin reassured.

"We have to keep moving now." Carlos declared. "It's our only choice."

* * *

**Okay, here's the first part of Episode 2! Shout out to ProjectPUW01, Tess Carver, and Guest for the reviews! To Tess Carver, I'll read the story when I get some time on my hands and since everyone already knows what Luke looks like, I already gave a small description of Jess. A lengthier one would be that she's tanned, wears a black tank top with black jeans and motorcycle boots and she always wears her light brown hair in a ponytail. I hope that's good. Please review and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!**


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